Fluency: Reading Better and Faster Presented by Cherry Carl

When children are allowed to reread familiar material, they are being allowed to learn to be readers, to read in ways which draw on all their language resources and knowledge of the world, to put this very complex recall and sequencing behavior into a fluent rendering of the text. The orchestration of these complex behaviors cannot be achieved on a hard book. Clay, M. (1991) Becoming Literate: The construction of inner control (p. 184)

Why Reading Fluency? A fluent reader decodes text automatically, and therefore can devote his /her attention to comprehending what is read. Laberge & Samuels

Achieving fluency is recognized as an important aspect of proficient reading, but it remains a neglected goal of reading instruction. Richard Allington

self-confidence, and enjoy reading more. With greater fluency, readers can concentrate on comprehending what they read, develop greater self-confidence, and enjoy reading more. Gillet & Temple

If we provide diverse learners with the tools and strategies for achieving automatic and fluent word recognition, we increase their chances for successful reading experiences. Chard, Simmons, & Kameenui

Why Be Concerned? “Fluency may be almost a necessary condition for good comprehension and enjoyable reading experiences.” Source: Nathan and Stanovich

Fluency Awareness While many teachers do activities that develop fluency, it is not often a focus of literacy lessons. Reading instruction usually focuses on decoding and comprehension. Without intervention, some children fall further and further behind in school.

What is Reading Fluency? Fluency is often defined as the rate (words per minute) and accuracy (number of words correctly identified) with which students perform reading tasks. Accurate reading has few or no omissions, mispronunciations, substitutions, insertions or reversals of word order.

What is Reading Fluency? (cont.) An additional dimension to fluency is known as prosody, or the rhythms and tones of spoken language. Students who read with expression are able to segment text into meaningful units, marking phrase and sentence boundaries with pauses, vowel lengthening and changes in pitch and emphasis.

Foundation for Fluency A solid base of phonological knowledge Automatic word recognition The ability to apply phonic, morphemic, and contextual analysis skills to recognize unfamiliar words The ability to segment text into meaningful syntactic chunks Extensive practice with materials that are easy to read

Who Is At Risk? By second grade, fluent reading is generally expected, yet a great deal of foundation building must occur in order to make it happen. Students in the upper grades who read aloud word by word or with little attention to commas or periods require intervention.

Recognizing At-Risk Readers sound halting when they read are word focused ignore punctuation have no expression have limited or no comprehension

What Are the Consequences? Since school reading tasks are difficult, at-risk students often fail to complete their work. At-risk students lose interest in school since reading is prerequisite for success. At-risk students never or rarely read for pleasure. The lack of progress impacts vocabulary knowledge and general learning. Many at-risk students develop self-esteem issues and lack confidence.

Effective Instructional Practices Repeated oral reading – students read a passage orally several times, with explicit guidance and feedback from a fluent reader; and Independent silent reading—students read extensively on their own, both in and out of the classroom, with minimal guidance and feedback. Teacher modeling Practice, practice, practice!

Oral Reading Techniques Taking Turns Preread, Review and Reread Choral Reading Plays Relaxed Paired Reading Puppet Plays Cross-Age or Buddy Reading Audio Tape

More Oral Reading Techniques The Neurological-Impress Method Dyad Reading Group-Assisted Reading Echo Reading or Imitative Reading Repeated Readings Paired Repeated Reading Precision Reading Reader’s Theater Shared Book Experience

Even More Oral Reading Techniques Simultaneous Oral Reading Alternate Oral Reading (my turn, your turn) Fluency-Oriented Reading Instruction (FORI) Peer Assisted Learning (PALS) Tape Assisted Reading Power Reading Poetry Parties

Measuring Growth in Fluency One of the best ways to assess student fluency is to simply listen to them read. Teachers need to trust their ears; many have been listening to children read for years and they know what good reading sounds like. For more formal assessments, try a “Qualitative Rubric” and a one-minute “Reading Fluency Probe.”

Norms for Reading Fluency

Looking at California Standards First Grade: Students understand the basic features of reading. They select letter patterns and know how to translate them into spoken language by using phonics, syllabication, and word parts. They apply this knowledge to achieve fluent oral and silent reading. 1.16 Read aloud with fluency in a manner that sounds like natural speech.

Looking at California Standards Second grade: Students understand the basic features of reading. They select letter patterns and know how to translate them into spoken language by using phonics, syllabication, and word parts. They apply this knowledge to achieve fluent oral and silent reading. 1.6 Read aloud fluently and accurately and with appropriate intonation and expression.

Looking at California Standards Third Grade: Students understand the basic features of reading. They select letter patterns and know how to translate them into spoken language by using phonics, syllabication, and word parts. They apply this knowledge to achieve fluent oral and silent reading. 1.3 Read aloud narrative and expository text fluently and accurately and with appropriate pacing, intonation, and expression.

Readers Theater Resources Plays Around the Year, by Liza Charlesworth (Scholastic, 1994). A year's worth of seasonal plays suitable for kids in grades 1–3.   Reader's Theatre for Beginning Readers, by Suzanne Barchers (Teachers Ideas Press, 1993). Scripts based on folktales and fables.

More Readers Theater Resources Reader's Theater Scripts of the Month www.lisablau.com A complete archive, available for free downloads.   The Reading Lady www.readinglady.com A number of free scripts ( many based on popular books) available in Microsoft Word and Adobe formats.

References and Resources Building Fluency: Lessons and Strategies for Reading Success by Wiley Blevins, Scholastic, 2002. The Fluent Reader: Oral Reading Strategies for Building Word Recognition, Fluency, and Comprehension Timothy V. Raskinski, Scholastic. 2003

More References and Resources From Phonics to Fluency: Effective Teaching of Decoding and Reading Fluency in the Elementary School. by Timothy V. Raskinski, Allyn & Bacon, 2000.

The hard facts about fluency: Children vary in the amount of practice that is required for fluency and automaticity in reading to occur. Some youngsters can read a word only once to recognize it again with greater speed; others need 20 or more exposures. The average child needs between four and 14 exposures to automatize the recognition of a new word. G. Reid Lyon (1997)